Drowning
by squidderzzz
Summary: Blaine's odd behavior leads Kurt to discover that his best friend-slash-crush is drowning in his own skin.


Kurt knew that there was something up with Blaine. He had always been hyper aware of the people around him. Maybe it was because he had a tendency to worry too much, or maybe it was because he liked to be in control of situations. Looking back into his past and how he had responded to his mother's death and his father's recent heart attack, he concluded that it was probably a combination of the two. Now it was Blaine's behavior that had him on edge. He'd been at Dalton for two full weeks now and needless to say he'd noticed a few things. They were small things, but they sure as hell stood out in his mind. Things like the teachers not berating Blaine for the time he'd fallen asleep in class, or the fact that no one seemed to bat an eyelash whenever Blaine would step outside mid-lecture for whatever reason. Then there was the constant rushing off to the bathroom prior to meals and his extremely odd eating habits("Seriously Blaine, those potatoes are swimming in butter. How can you even eat that?" Blaine would simply shrug and add more butter to his already-drowned potatoes). His diet really set off alarm bells in Kurt's mind, especially after his father's heart attack. Kurt was worried, but every time he'd try to ask if Blaine was okay, Blaine would simply let him know that he was fine and that there was nothing to worry about. Kurt had tried to press for more information, but Blaine was set in his secretive ways.

Kurt's head met his desk in an epic display of exasperation. He was currently in his dorm, wearing nothing but a Dalton t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants, his feet curled up underneath him on the chair as he poured over his textbooks, desperately trying to get this research paper written and _not _think about Blaine, but his mind apparently had other plans. He sighed, lifting his head, his cheek taking a piece of scratch paper with it in the process. Removing the offending item and balling it up, he tossed it into his trash can and glanced around the room, his eyes falling on the Dalton hoodie that Blaine had accidentally left after a study session the night before. Come to think of it, Kurt had never even seen the inside of Blaine's dorm. His curly haired friend-but-sort-of-crush had always insisted on hanging out in Kurt's room only, which struck Kurt as quite odd, and did nothing to relieve his ongoing anxiety. He'd even gone as far as cornering Blaine's roommate, Jeff, after class one day. The blond simply shrugged, claiming that he was running late for a date with Nick, before bolting off.

Yep, something was definitely going on.

A flash of lightning followed by a crack of thunder abruptly snapped him away from his thoughts. God, he hated storms. It had been raining nonstop all day, but things seemed to really be picking up now. The wind had begun to howl and the rain was falling in sheets. Kurt shivered, trying to tell himself over and over that everything was okay. He took a few deep breaths before returning his attention to his homework, hoping that he could distract himself from the weather outside.

Did he mention that he hated storms?

He did.

He hated the thunder and the lightning and the pounding of the rain. It brought old memories flooding to the surface; memories of his mother holding him when the weather was at its worst, running a soothing hand through his chestnut hair, and whispering comforting words into his ears. He missed those days. All he could do now was pray to whatever god he didn't believe in that the weather wouldn't get any worse.

The minutes ticked on.

The stormed showed no signs of letting up.

_Flash. _

_Crack! _

Okay, that one was a little too close for comfort.

_Flash. _

_Crack!_

Kurt hid his head in his hands, trying to block out the vibration of the windows that accompanied the most recent bout of thunder.

_Flash. _

_Crack! _

That was when it happened.

_Flicker. _

The lights flickered for several moments before fading out completely, enveloping the small room(and subsequently, Kurt) in darkness.

Kurt let out a yelp, clearly on the verge of a panic attack. If there was one thing that he hated worse than storms, it was the dark. Especially darkness during storms. He could feel himself start to hyperventilate and the only sound that he was aware of was the pounding of his heart in his ears. He couldn't do this. He couldn't stay in here alone. He wanted his mom. His dad. Someone.

_Blaine. _

He wanted Blaine.

Kurt jumped to his feet, immediately groping around his desk for his phone, not caring that his schoolbooks, papers, and pencils were crashing to the floor in the process. He nearly lost his grip on his phone after he had successfully located it; his hands were clammy and covered in a cold sweat and his whole body was beginning to shake. Yeah, he needed to get out of here.

Using his phone as a flashlight, and not caring that he was still in his pajamas and that his hair was far from presentable, he slipped out of his room and down the hall towards the west wing of the school and Blaine's room.

* * *

"Jeff, too hard..." Blaine grunted from his position on top of his bed. He was currently lying flat on his back with a pillow under his knees, with Jeff oh so conveniently straddling him. It was a tight squeeze, considering the fact that the two of them had a bunk bed in their room, and "the top bunk is too close to the ceiling Jeff so we're going to have to do it down here", as Blaine had so eloquently put it. He had a point though.

* * *

Keeping quiet while panicking wasn't an easy task, but Kurt had somehow managed to navigate his way to Blaine's dorm room without waking anyone(how anyone could sleep through all of this was beyond him). The last thing he wanted was for Wes, the acting prefect("What is this? Hogwarts?" Kurt had asked when he had first moved in), to catch him outside his dorm after curfew.

Standing outside the door, he raised a shaking hand to knock.

"Blaine?"

* * *

Jeff and Blaine were so preoccupied that neither of them noticed the knocking on the door.

"It's not too hard, Blaine. You can take it." His voice was thick with his Australian accent. Yep, no one could miss Jeff when he opened his mouth. "I know what I'm doing."

"Sure, you do." Blaine grumbled as Jeff's movements continued on. "Still. Too. Hard. Jeff. I'm not a piece of meat that needs to be tenderized!"

Jeff laughed. "You sure about that?" Blaine let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, fine, how's this?" Jeff asked as he eased up a bit.

"Better, thank you." Oh, Blaine, ever the gentleman.

* * *

Kurt could hear voices on the other side of the door, but he couldn't for the life of him make out what they were saying. Blaine was definitely awake, so why wasn't he answering? Did he really not want Kurt inside that much? Did Blaine even realize that he was there? If so, was Blaine purposefully trying to ignore him?

The darkness that was surrounding Kurt was beginning to suffocate him. He was alone in a part of the school that he was pretty unfamiliar with, and the storm outside was still raging. He couldn't breathe. Coming here was a bad idea. He should have just stayed in his dorm and panicked and cried in there until it was all over.

But he couldn't do that now.

Because there was no going back now.

Because he still wanted Blaine.

Kurt whimpered, trying to control his breathing as he knocked again. "Blaine..."

_Crack! _

Oh god the walls were shaking.

_Crack! _

Oh god make it stop.

_Crack!_

Tears were flowing down his cheeks.

_Crack!_

He couldn't do this. As if spurred on by the incessant clapping of thunder outside, Kurt's hand flew to the door handle. "Blaine-!"

Apparently, while Blaine had a habit of jumping all over furniture, Jeff had a habit of leaving doors unlocked.

Before he realized what had happened, he was standing inside Blaine's dorm room, his ice blue eyes fixed upon the bed and the two figures occupying it, the glow of a few flashlights scattered about illuminating their features.

Blaine was on his back with Jeff straddling him, his hands placed on Blaine's upper chest. Both were fully clothed(well, if one could count Jeff's wife beater and boxers as clothing), but nothing was going to stop Kurt from royally freaking out.

He was still crying, but now he wasn't sure if it was because of the storm or the sight before him. "Ohmygod Blaine I'm so sorry-!" he exclaimed. "It's storming and the power is out and I just needed someone but you're...umm... you're busy so I'll uhh... just go... I'm so sorry..." Kurt was trembling as he turned to leave the room. Well, at least Blaine ignoring his not-so-occasional flirting made sense now. He was with Jeff. And Jeff was cheating on Nick with Blaine.

_Oh god. _

This was too much.

Jeff literally launched himself off of Blaine and dashed over to Kurt, grabbing the male by the forearm to prevent him from leaving. "Whoa, mate, if I'm thinking that you're thinking what I think you're thinking then you've got the wrong idea."

Kurt kept his gaze averted from Jeff. "But..."

Blaine pulled himself to a sitting position and quickly snatched his glasses from the bedside table(which was actually Jeff's desk. Blaine's was located on the wall across from their beds). Sliding them onto his face, he proceeded to hop to his feet and rush over to the two boys.

Blaine placed a gentle hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I'm not with Jeff, Kurt, I promise."

"But..." Kurt was staring a hole into the ground.

"Kurt, look at me."

Blue eyes met hazel and it was then that Kurt seriously began inspecting the other boy's features. Blaine looked tired. No, he looked downright exhausted. The soft glow from the flashlights seemed to just intensify the dark circles under his eyes and the paleness of his skin. His curls were free of their usual gel, and Kurt honestly wasn't sure if the navy blue pajama pants and white t-shirt that he was wearing were supposed to be baggy like that or not. Blaine opened his mouth as if to speak again and offer and explanation for all of this but his body seemed to have other ideas and cut him off with a harsh, painful-sounding cough. A shiver ran down Kurt's spine and Jeff's grip on Kurt slackened. Blaine removed his hand from Kurt's shoulder and turned, taking those few steps back towards their beds and snatching a styrofoam cup from Jeff's desk, his movements punctuated with a series of coughs.

"Told you it wasn't too hard. Got shit moving, am I right?" Leave it to Jeff to break the awkward silence with something stupid.

Blaine rolled his eyes and let out a few huffs before bringing the cup to his mouth and spitting into it. Kurt's brows furrowed in confusion. "Blaine, what's going on?" he questioned, his voice barely above a whisper and his cheeks still stained with tear tracks. His bright blue eyes followed Blaine's form as the curly-haired boy took a seat at the edge of his bed.

"Kurt, I am so sorry that I've kept this from yo-" Another intense cough erupted from Blaine's throat and Kurt visibly tensed. There was no way that this person sitting before him, nearly coughing up a lung was Mr. Blaine Dapper Teenage Dream Anderson. Blaine was hacking and coughing and choking and _oh god Jeff why are you so calm about all of this?_

"Come on, Blaine, calm down. Deep breaths, okay?" Jeff was at Blaine's side, gently rubbing his back as Blaine attempted to take in a steady, deep breath of air. "Almost got it up and out. Give it a few good huffs. Try to hold off on the coughing. We don't need you puking all over Kurt's feet," he half-joked. Every now and then Blaine did cough himself to the point of vomiting. Kurt took a step to the side as Blaine released a few good huffs and with a heaving sound that Kurt would much rather forget, spit into the cup.

"He's usually not this gunky," the blond informed Kurt, who had lowered himself down into Jeff's desk chair. "This is what happens when he doesn't stick to his physiotherapy schedule like he's supposed to. That's what you walked in on, by the way. Physio. " He focused his attention on Blaine. "Which we still have to finish when you're done freaking Kurt out. Don't think you're getting out of it again, Anderson."

Blaine didn't bother entertaining Jeff with a response. At the moment, he was too concerned about Kurt, whose sky blue eyes were wide with worry. He cleared his throat. It was time to just come clean on all of this. He'd avoided it for long enough already.

"I have CF, Kurt."

"What?"

"Cystic Fibrosis."

Kurt could have sworn that he felt the ground drop out from underneath him at the sound of those words.


End file.
